The

HARK the Thunders are hufh'd: Lightnings cease their Rage: The Angelic Armies stand in filent Suspense: The whole Race of Adam is wrapt in pleafing or anxious Expectation. And now that adorable Being, whofe Favour is better than Life, whofe Acceptance is a Crown of Glory, lifts up the Light of his Countenance upon the Righteous. He speaks; and what ravifhing Words proceed from his gracious Lips! What Ecftafies of Delight they enkindle in the Breasts of the Faithful!" I accept you, "O my People! Ye are they that believed in

my Name. Ye are they that renounced ἐσ Yourfelves, and are complete in Me. I fee no "Spot or Blemish in you; for ye are washed in "my Blood, and cloathed in my Righteousness. Renewed by my Spirit, ye have glorified me on Earth, and have been faithful unto Death. Come, then, ye Servants of Holinefs, enter into the Joy of your LORD. Come, ye Children of Light, ye Bleffed of my Father, receive the Kingdom, that shall never "be removed; wear the Crown, which fadeth not away; and enjoy Pleafures for ever

more."

THEN it will be one of the fmalleft Privileges. of the Righteous, that they fhall languish no more; that Sickness will never again fhew her

pale

pale Countenance in their Dwellings *. Death itfelf will be "fwallowed up in Victory." That fatal Javelin, which has drank the Blood of Monarchs, and finds its Way to the Hearts of all the Sons of Adam, fhall be utterly broken. That enormous Scythe, which has ftruck Empires from their Root, and swept Ages and Generations into Oblivion, shall lie by in perpetual Ufeleffnefs. Sin alfo, which filled thy Quiver, thou infatiate Archer!-Sin, which ftrung thy Arm with such refiftless Vigour-which pointed all thy Shafts with inevitable Deftruction-Sin will then be done away. Whatever is frail, or depraved, will be thrown off with our Grave-cloaths. All to come is perfect Excellency, and confummate Happiness; the Term of whofe Continuance is Eternity.

OETERNITY! Eternity! How are our boldeft, our strongest Thoughts, loft and overwhelmed in thee! Who can fet Landmarks to limit thy Dimensions, or find Plumbets to fathom thy Depths? Arithmeticians have Figures to com

pute

*Ifaiah Speaking of the new Jerufalem, mentions this, as one of its Immunities, The Inhabitant thereof fhall no more fay, I am fick. And another Clause in its Royal Charter runs thus, GOD fhall wipe away all Tears from their Eyes, and there fhall be no more Death, neither Sorrow, nor Crying; neither fhall there be any more Pain. Ifai. xxxiii. 24. Rev. xxi. 4.

pute all the Progreffions of Time: Aftronomers have Inftruments to calculate the Distances of the Stars: But what Numbers can ftate, what Lines can gauge, the Lengths and Breadths of Eternity?" It is higher than Heaven; what "canft thou do? deeper than Hell; what canst "thou know? The Measure thereof is longer "than the Earth, broader than the Sea *."

MYSTERIOU s, mighty Existence! A Sum, not to be leffened by the largest Deductions: An Extent, not to be contracted by all poffible Di minutions. None can truly say, after the most prodigious Waste of Ages, "That fo much of "Eternity is gone." For when Millions of Centuries are elapfed, it is but just commencing; and when Millions more have run their ample Round, it will be no nearer ending. Yea, when Ages, numerous as the Bloom of Spring, increased by the Herbage of Summer, both augmented by the Leaves of Autumn, and all mutiplied by the Drops of Rain which drown the Winter-when these, and ten thousand times ten thousand more -more than can be reprefented by any Similitude, or imagined by any Conception, are all revolved; Eternity, vaft, boundless, amazing Eternity, will only be beginning. Beginning, did I fay? rather only beginning to begin.

*Job xi. 8, 9.

WHAT

WHAT a pleafing, yet awful Thought is this! Full of Delight, and full of Dread.

O!

may it alarm our Fears, quicken our Hopes, and animate all our Endeavours! Since we are foon to launch into this endless and inconceivable State, let us give all Diligence to fecure our Entrance into Blifs. Now let us give all Diligence, because there is no Alteration in the Scenes of Futurity. The Wheel never turns: All is ftedfast and immoveable beyond the Grave. Whether we are then feated on the Throne, or ftretched on the Rack; a Seal will be fet to our Condition by the Hand of everlasting Mercy, or inflexible Juffice. -The Saints always rejoice amidst the Smiles of Heaven; their Harps are perpetually tuned; their Triumphs admit of no Interruption.-The Ruin ako of the Wicked is irremediable. The fatal Sentence, once paffed, is never to be repealed. No Hope of exchanging their doleful Habitations. But all Things bear the fame difmal Afpect for ever and ever.

THE Wicked-* My Mind recoils at the Apprehenfion of their Mifery. It has ftudioufly waved the fearful, Subject, and seems unwilling to purfue it, even now. But 'tis better to reflect upon it for a few Minutes, than to endure it

-Animus meminiffe horret, luctuque refugit..

to

to eternal Ages. Perhaps, the Confideration of their aggravated Mifery may be profitably terrible: may teach me more highly to prize the Saviour, who delivers from going down into "the bottomlefs Pit;" may drive me, like the Avenger's Sword, to this only City of Refuge, for obnoxious Sinners.

THE Wicked feem to lie here, like Malefactors, in a deep and ftrong Dungeon, referved against the Day of Trial." Their Departure was "without Peace." Clouds of Horror fat lowering upon their clofing Eye-lids; moft fadly foreboding the "Blackness of Darkness for ever." When the laft Sickness feized their Frame, and the inevitable Change advanced; when they faw the fatal Arrow fitting to the Strings, faw the deadly Archer aiming at their Life, and felt the envenomed Shaft faftened in their Vitals-Good GOD! what Fearfulness came upon them! What horrible Dread overwhelmed them! How did they ftand fhuddering upon the tremendous Precipice, exceffively afraid to die, yet utterly unable to live.-O! What pale Reviews, what Startling Profpects, confpire to augment their Sorrows! They look backward; and, behold! a moft melancholy Scene! Sins unrepented of; Mercy flighted; and the Day of Grace ending. -They look forward, and nothing presents itself but the righteous Judge; the dreadful Tri

bunal;